We both glared at each other for a while. Neither of us winning and neither of us saying anything. I would be lying if I said the power struggle didn’t turn me on. I would be lying if I said that watching him trying to nonverbally dominate me was a complete turn-off.

I was soaked for him and he probably knew it.

His show of power over my body was subtle. It was in the way his eyes slid down to linger on my mouth and the way it made me lick my lips. It was in the way he slid his eyes to my breasts and my nipples peaked.

I wanted him and he knew it. He was really my only lover in a way. Everything that had come before was forgotten by its lack of meaning. It meant something to me to be with him. He meant something and that’s what stung the most when I thought of him and anyone else. It would hurt even more when he got bored with chasing me.

“Fine scissors,” he finally said and turned toward the bathroom.

“You want these off?” I asked and popped the button of my jeans.

He turned back around and stood at the end of the bed. “I’m glad you’ve come to your senses.”

“Not at all, I just don’t want my clothes shredded. I still don’t like you.”

He grinned and crossed his arms over his chest. His muscles flexed, tensing and bulging like he was ready to pounce but was trying to stay calm.

When I started unzipping my jeans slowly I kicked off my other shoe in his general direction. He swatted at it when it nearly hit him in the crotch.

His eyebrow arched and he gave me a look that promised some measure of sexual punishment. He stood quietly watching me as I shimmied my pants over my hips and off my legs. I backed up on the bed and took my shirt off. I wanted him to see that I was wearing his other set of panties and bra that he had bought me.

He said nothing and just continued to stare. His green eyes blazing a trail down my body.

When he did move, it was with a deep sigh and he kept eye contact with me.

He shoved his pants over his hips along with his boxer briefs. His cock sprang to life, standing hard and at attention. His hand massaged the base of it a few times as he looked at me.

My mouth parted as I continued to gape at him. Delicious little jolts ran through me as I continued to look at him and I could feel myself getting wetter.

“Come here, Andromeda.”

I smirked at him. “No.”

His head tilted slightly to the side right before he rushed the bed.

I let out a small scream and dropped over the side of the mattress. He caught me around the waist when I stood up to run.

He lifted me and bent me over his lap in one motion, forcing my head down into the blankets with a hand in the middle of my back.

I felt a sting on one of my cheeks as he spanked it.

“Andi, you are in a lot of fucking trouble,” he said and his hand came down again. His palm rubbed the spot afterward. The burn of it flared then ebbed.

The sensation was totally new for me. The sting then the tender rub afterward, with his hand lingering in places that sent jolts through me. It felt naughty and sweet at the same time.

“I’m sorry,” he said suddenly and I felt a kiss on the cheek he had just spanked. “I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have done that with you.”

“Why?” I whispered. His kiss flared something within me that wanted more.

I felt his lips roam over the same spot again and he planted several feathery kisses on my skin.

“Your past. They hit you. Forgive me, I shouldn’t have done any of this with you. You deserve so much more than my sick little games. I shouldn’t have tied you up and I shouldn’t have spanked you just now.”

I drew in a steady breath. My mind and body were at war with themselves. Spanking was different but it was like being tied up. Neither was sick to me because he was doing it. That was the vital piece that came hammering down on me and clicked in place. I didn’t think about it being like my past. That was something entirely different.

This man made me want him and with that came his desires as well as mine. The events of my past and what we had shared never equated in my mind. It would never be the same, yet he felt guilty for it.

“Do it again,” I whispered.

“No, I think we need to stop. I can’t imagine what you must think of me. I don’t want to be that person that ever hurts you and I will kill anyone that lays a hand on you again.”

“Brock,” I pleaded and looked back at him. He looked down at my face with eyes that looked stormy and conflicted.

I arched my back. “I love everything I’ve done with you in bed. You wouldn’t hurt me like that but I am hurting. I need you to play with me. Show me.”

He sighed and kissed me on the cheek again before he lightly spanked me again. He looked over at me and rubbed the sting.

I let out a tiny involuntary moan.

He chuckled. “I think you like being in trouble with me.”

He spanked another spot that hadn’t been touched yet. Spank and rub, the process repeated several times without a word from him and only my moans could be heard.

My head turned on the blanket and I looked over my shoulder at him.

His hands were roaming over the back of my legs and upper thighs. The look on his face was one of both pain and lust. His fingers skimmed the lace thong I was wearing and made me jump.

I could feel his erection hot and nearly burning up against my hip.

“Brock,” I whispered, and arched my back as he dipped a finger under my thong.

He lifted me up slightly by my hips and licked one of my cheeks before nipping at it.

I let out a gasp.

“I love your ass Andi. I love a lot of things about you, but your ass when it’s pink from a good spanking. Gorgeous. The sounds you make, your stubborn streak. I love that you test me. I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to it. I think about you all the time.”

He nibbled a small trail along my ass cheek, then tugged at my thong strap with his teeth.

I was wet and needy for him when I closed my eyes to just enjoy the feel of his finger sliding in and out of me. It felt so dirty to be in his lap like this with the things he was doing to me but I wanted it all the same.

His thumb slid up between my cheeks as he continued to finger me It slid over the outside of my puckered entrance once.

I gasped and my eyes flew open.

Brock chuckled darkly and his thumb moved away. “Someday, maybe.”

My eyes swept over my shoulder to look at him but there was only a smirk on his face. He removed his fingers and rolled me off his lap.

I was on my back in seconds. “No blindfold!”

He grinned at me. “You want to see me?”

I nodded and licked my lips. He shoved my panties down to my ankles and took them off. Then he leaned over me and grabbed my hands, wrapping and tying them around my wrists.

“Is this okay?” he asked.

I nodded and bit my lip.

He held my hands above my head with one hand and slipped his other hand between my thighs. I parted them for him and he lifted until he was between them.

“Do you have a condom?” I whispered.

He looked pained for a minute then reached over to grab a condom out of his nightstand.

“Kind of moot at this point.”

“Why do you say that?”

He tore at the wrapper and slid the condom in place. “Andi, we didn’t use a condom last night.”

I blinked up at him alarmed. “We didn’t?”

He chuckled. “No, but you were so drunk on sex you didn’t notice. That and you had me so turned on that I forgot but we’ll use them.”

His hand came back to hold my wrists in place and he started kissing and sucking at my neck.

I squirmed, thinking about the implications of what he just said.

“Uhm, maybe we shouldn’t at all, since I’m not on birth control.”

He arched an eyebrow and seemed to think about that for a moment. “I just assumed. With what you told me, I should have asked first.”

I shrugged. “We’ll just be more careful.”

His mouth moved down to my nipple and licked it. “Hmm.”

My back arched as he nipped at one and my legs squeezed against his chest.

“I think we were in a different position this morning when we were interrupted, Andi.”

The only answer I gave him was a whimper as his other hand dipped between my legs and his fingers started circling my nub. He circled and licked until I couldn’t think anymore.

I was surprised when he flipped me over to my stomach. He grabbed one of my knees and manhandled me until I was face down into the blanket.

“Lift,” he growled as he tugged on my hip. “Keep your face on the covers and don’t move your hands.”

I lifted my hips up and looked over my shoulder at him.

He seemed to pause for a minute, doing something then sat up on his knees. His cock prodded at my opening, then thrust all the way in.

We both let out a deep groan at the same time.

My eyes closed as he started moving in and out of me in a slow but hard and deep rhythm. I could feel every inch of him sliding into me and penetrating deeper than he had last night.

He bent over me and bit at the back of my neck while his other hand came around to tease my clit again. I could feel myself clenching around him and heard myself start to moan louder.

“That’s it, Andromeda, come for me. You’re my girl now and I want you to come.”

His mouth landed on the spot beside my ear and I arched back into him causing him to go deep. It hurt for a moment until my body adjusted to him.

His finger was gently circling and he felt so deep each time he thrust into me. My ass was still slightly sensitive from the spanking which made my awareness of his hips moving against me all the more acute.

I let out a half whimper and moan as he sat back and started thrusting harder. He had both hands on my hips and I could hear him grunting with each thrust.

Suddenly my body clenched and spasmed. I screamed on his next thrust inside me. And kept screaming as he thrust several more times, deeper still. I clenched and spiraled again when he reached around and rolled my clit between his thumb and finger.

He let out a loud groan and thrust into me once more before we both collapsed.

I could feel his warm breath against my neck as we lay there. The solidness of his body pressing me down into the bed. He raised up on his elbows after a moment and kissed a trail down my neck and spine as he slipped out of me and backed off the bed.

I was thoroughly fucked and didn’t feel like moving. My hands were still tied above my head with my thong. I couldn’t even mange to try and free myself.

Brock walked out of the room and I heard the bathroom shut for a few minutes. I rolled over and tried not to doze off, even though that pleasant realm beckoned me.

The room smelled like sex and Brock, which was something that my mind would never forget no matter where my life took me.

There was a tug on my hands and I looked up to see Brock untying my wrists.

He grinned down at me when they were free then slanted into bed, pulling me up into his lap. His arms squeezed around me and he peppered me with small kisses as I nuzzled into his chest. My fingers ran down his smooth skin, still hot and slightly moist from our time together.

He cleared his throat. “Still mad at me?”

“Yes,” I mumbled against him.

His chest started rumbling before he started laughing. He kissed the top of my head and started playing with my hair.

“Hmm, I wouldn’t expect any other answer from you. Can I ask you a question?”

“Uh-huh,” I mumbled as my eyes drifted shut.

“If you were given the chance to be Andromeda Renee Wellington again or to stay Andi Jones, which one would you take?”

I breathed in his sent and turned my head into his chest. “That’s not enough information for me to even decide. Right now, I would say that I would prefer to keep the name I have.”

His arms squeezed me gently. “Yes, but, let’s say that all of the problems in being Andromeda were fixed. No issue with parents, no enemies, etc. Just you with the name you were given at birth and no legal ramifications. Plus, the ability to stop running away from it.”

I opened my eyes and tried to roll the last things he said around in my mind. He was getting at something here but I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to get from it.

“Brock, what-if questions are mostly invalid. Things are what they are and life is going to be what you make of it. I stole that one from Kate because she’s always saying it but the more I’ve heard her say it the more it makes sense. I can what-if one situation and what-if the next but the reality is that I live in the present situation such as it is.”

He chuckled and kissed the top of my head. “Another thing I love about you is that you’re blunt and normally a realist.”

I pulled my head away from his chest and looked up at him. His mouth was tipped up at the side and he looked highly amused.

Was he saying that he loved me or just loved things about me? What was the difference, if there was one? If he did intend to say that he loved me, how did I feel about that?

This shouldn’t be so complicated.

His hand came up and he ran his fingers over my hair. “Uh-oh, those wheels inside that pretty head of yours are turning. What about?”

“Uhm, just wondering why you asked.”

His eyes slid to the side and he pursed his lips.

“Brock?”

“Curiosity. It’s just a question, like what your favorite flavor is.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Butterscotch.”

He grinned. “Funny. I would have pegged you for a Rocky Road fan.”

I shifted around until I had gotten off his lap. He seemed reluctant to let me go but watched me cautiously as I sat on the bed and eyed him.

“You’re being evasive. So, what’s your favorite flavor?” I asked.

“Andi. Or Andromeda. Whatever name you want to go by but the answer is you. And you’re being evasive about what you were thinking.”

I let out a big sigh. “I was thinking about something but I’m not sure how I would feel about the answer either way.”

He sank down a little further into the bed and put his hand on my waist.

“In addition to being incredibly good looking, I’m an excellent problem solver. Want to give me the pros and cons of your issue.”

I rolled my eyes at him. “You’re ridiculous. I’m not sure you’re the right person to talk to about it since it has to do with you.”

He closed his eyes and smiled. “Okay, I promise to be completely neutral in my answers and not be partial.”

I moved to get up. The question I had in my mind about whether he loved me was drifting away with his sarcasm. I loved that he always had some humorous answer for things but it was hard to take him seriously in moments like these.

He loved a lot of things about me but he never said he loved me. That was the answer. If I looked at my own thoughts about it sometime, preferably not right after sex, I would probably say I loved things about him too but wasn’t ready to say I loved him either.

The way he smiled at me both in teasing me and in bed. The way he laughed when I poked fun at him. The protective things he talked about. There were a lot of characteristics to love.

He also had a nice ass and really was very good looking. Not that I would admit it to him.

Love. What was that between two people?

It was hard enough for me to grasp what that meant in families. Normal families. I loved Drew very much but how did love work between two people that weren’t related with no obligation to each other?

If I loved him, would he be kind about it if he didn’t feel the same way? He had done so much with his life, lived in a huge house with nice things, had a job that he excelled at and had a family that seemed normal. He never had to hide who he was and the few experiences I had with someone loving me involved two people that hadn’t loved me at all.

I just had problems to give him. Huge problems.

One of which was that I loved him. Maybe.

“I think—”

Brock’s phone rang. He ignored it and kept waiting for me to say something. It cut off then immediately started ringing again.

“Uhm, you should probably get that.”

He looked disappointed and sighed. “I probably should, right now I want to hear what’s on your mind though.”

The ringing stopped then started again. My eyes slid over to the nightstand to watch it light up.

“I’m going to go to the bathroom. Sounds urgent.”

His eyes watched me as I slid off the bed but he didn’t move to pick up the phone.

“Andi?” he said in a voice that was both soft and questioning.

“Hmm?” I said as I took a step toward the bathroom.

He sighed again. “You’ll figure it out eventually.”

“What’s that?” I asked.

“Whatever you’re thinking about. I’m always here if you want to run it by me though.”

I nodded and gave him a small smile as he turned to pick up the phone that was ringing once more.